Strong arm robbery occurs near local park A strong arm robbery occurred Tuesday in West Park at the corner of thapin and Miller streets, according to Ann Arbor Police Department reports. Two men were rolling dice and plac- ing bets at the nearby residential park at 6p.m. One male won the bet and col- lected the money. The suspect was the man who lost the bet. He got angry and punched the Ie ner. The suspect then took his ne back, according to AAPD reports. Students admit having marijuana A marijuana odor was detected from a East Quad residence hall room Tesday, Department of Public Safety [eports state. EDPS officers found marijuana in the suspected room, which housed two female residents. The two women, ages 18 and 20, aid the marijuana belonged to them. One student admitted to smoking some of the drug. The evidence is pending analysis, DPS reports state. Some Diag ropes were damaged The yellow ropes surrounding the grassy parts of the Diag were damaged ,hesday night, according to DPS ;reports. The ropes have been used this fall to protect the newly sodded area of the Diag. The caller told DPS that the ropes were cut every 20 feet. DPS suspects that the destruction must have occurred ;night. Man kept after porno viewing A unknown person was looking at pornographic material on a University computer, DPS reports state. The suspect was browsing the Web op the fourth floor of the Asian library reading room of Harlan Hatcher Faduate Library on Wednesday, .cording to DPS reports. DPS units found an existing warrant for the 34-year-old suspect and arrested him. Men allegedly park free in lot Three unknown men used a wheel- chair to get free parking at a University rking lot Wednesday. A caller reported to DPS that every night three men use a wheel chair to trip a sensor at the entrance of a car lot at the University Medical Center. After the sensor was tripped, the men got a new parking ticket from the tick- et booth, and then immediately exited out of the parking lot in their car. The men aren't charged any money because the time ticket shows that they just ame in, although their car has been .rked in the structure all day, DPS reports state. The caller reported to DPS that the three suspects leave the structure with- cut paying every evening around 8 p.m. The men drive an old Oldsmobile With a ragged top, according to DPS reports. Hospital worker gets irritated An angry employee at University Hospitals was throwing hot water at staff members Wednesday, according to DPS reports. The caller stated that an irritated employee was throwing dishes around the kitchen of the University's East Medical Center. Then, the employee began filling pans with hot water and throwing the water at the staff, accord- g to DPS reports. - Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter Stephanie Hepburn. L OCA LSTATEThe Michigan Daily - Friday, October 17, 1997 - 3 Senior suffocates from inhaling carbon dioxide By Alice Robinson Daily Staff Reporter LSA senior Joseph Schulz suffocated to death last weekend in his 10th floor University Towers bedroom after inhaling carbon dioxide that was transferred from a canister to a plastic bag. According to the Ann Arbor Police Department, Schulz's roommate found him lying in his bedroom with a plastic bag over his head either late Monday or early Tuesday when he returned to their apartment after being gone for the weekend. "The investigation has revealed that it W s dcath by asphyxiation," said AAPD Sgt. Larn Jeru,. AAPD officials said there was no suicide note or evidence found at the scene that Nwouid lead them to believe that Schulz's death was a suicide. They have also ruled out the possibility of homi- cide. "There's only one person that knows what his intention was, and that would be him," Jerue said. LSA senior Tansy Rodd, who lives next door to the apartment where the incident occurred, said thcrV Ja one da recentuly when she heard a lot of nuise coming from Schulza' apartment. "There xwere like a lot of people coming up," she said. "I just heard a lot of commotion going on up here. I thought someone maybe got locked out." Jerue said using carbon dioxide to get high is not uncommon. Carbon dioxide cartridges can be purchased from hardxuare, drug or sporting goods stores and produce a "euphoric rush" when dis- charged into a plastic bag and inhaled, Jerue said. The carbon dioxide cartridges are sold for use in pressurized pellet-type guns or old-fashioned whipped cream dispensers, Jerue said. Neighbors in University Towers remained baf- fled as to what happened on their hall early this week. "I saw an ambulance and someone came up" said one student who did not wish to be named. "I didn't even know about it," said LSA sopho- more Philipp Smith, who lives next door to Schulz's apartment. University officials did not wish to comment on the incident yesterday. Atstic book coversq on display at 'U' Exhibit of elaborate 'fine bindings' at Art and Architecture Building. By Margene Eriksen Daily Staff Reporter The book covers on display in an unusual University exhibit are a far cry from the textbooks students carry around campus. Elaborately designed book bindings are featured in an exhib- it titled "Contemporary Fine Bindings from the Collection of Jan van der Marck." The free exhibit is on display in the Slusser Gallery of The Art and Architecture Building on North Campus from Oct. 12-24. "(Bookbinding) is an art form that should be of special interest to peo- ple involved with art and art stu- dents'" said Shannon Zachary, head of conservation and book repair for University libraries. "It's an art form you don't see very much or in as good a quality as Jan van der Marck has been able to gather and present for us." The bindings on exhibit are a col- lection of work by contemporary artists. The artists used mediums including goat skin, ebony and multi- colored paper clips to create the bind- ings. The mediums used often reflect the subject matter in the books. "The scope an artist has to interact with the content of the book, while still having wholly their own design is a large part of this art form," Zachary said. "Mr. Van der Marck has selected books that show what this art form can do. The special effects, such as gold tooling on leather, is something you don't get in other art forms." University alumna Carol Noffz, who visited the exhibit, said the book bind- ing art was a pleasant surprise in the gallery, "I wish more people knew this was here. I'm in awe over the incredible beauty of the exhibit," Noffz said. "So many people settle for downloading art from the Internet, it's important to put the real thing on display." The bindings in the exhibit are on such books as The Odyssey, Les Idylles and assorted poetry collections. Almost any medium is acceptable if the book binder feels it helps to inter- EMILY NATHAN/otiy former Art and Architecture Librarian Janine Odlevak looks at the book binding exhibit at Slusser Gallery In North Campus. The exhibit, which Is open to the public, runs from October 12-24. pret the story told in the book. One of the poetry books even uses human hair on the cover. The organizers of the exhibit had to do some juggling to find a suitable place to exhibit the books. Organizers tried to schedule the exhibit so it would coincide with an annual Ann Arbor seminar held by the national organization, The Guild of Book Workers. "Mr. Van der Marck has been very instrumental in getting the exhibit ready and here. He talked to the dean at the School of Art and found a water- color artist who agreed to put our dis- play in the same gallery as his," Zachary said. This created some surprise for view= ers who were expecting only paintings in the gallery. "I'm surprised that this exhibit is here. I didn't expect to see books;"said Sean Desantis, an Art junior. Online group allows students to 'confer,' exchange thoughts By Suzanne Zweben For the Daily Confer, an on-line group interaction system that allows students to join elec- tronic conferences with more than 1,000 people, has managed to build a kind of cult following during its two decades of existence. It has also managed to be remain unknown to almost everyone else. "Confer started as a way of exploring issues relating to academic governance, ways of getting people spread out across campus and beyond to discuss issues of mutual importance," said Bob Parnes, who is responsible for author- ing the Confer program adopted by the University. Since September, 6,549 University Confer members participated in 148 active conferences on campus. But those who are not direct conference members usually are unfamiliar with what Confer has to offer. Confer participant Laura Packard, who graduated from the University last year, said many students haven't gotten involved because the com- puter program Confer is hard to learn, "The best way to learn is Quick Notes or someone helping;" Packard said. Part of Confer's identity crisis can be attributed to the fact that the system is customized for small groups - and is not equipped to handle the demand of the general public, Parnes said. "(Confer is) designed with groups up to 1,000 people in mind," Parnes said. "When you get into 100,000 people or more, it doesn't do the job." Confer is unique because it allows people to participate in live discussions and -retrieve parts of the conversation later. A permanent written record of the conference makes it easier for new peo- ple to join, Parnes said. "There's nothing on campus really like it," Packard said. Meet-Students is one option in the vast array of social conference groups within Confer. The group starts anew at the beginning of every semester to ensure membership turnover and encourage new students to join, Packard said. As of last week, this semester's Confer has attracted 81 participants. LSA junior Susan Lyon, who partici- pates in Meet-Students, said she was drawn to the conference because there are different types of people ranging from engineers to art students, dis- cussing topics as diverse as football and Princess Diana's death. "You don't deal with shallow surface issues but words people choose to rep- resent themselves and their ideas," Lyon said. Lyon said she has made good friends through Meet-Students and even found her current roommates through the con- ference three years ago. Aside from cyberchat interaction, some members typically get together once a week for lunch. Those involved also have scheduled a Halloween party as the group's big social event for this month. While Confer has a small but devout following, an lTD consultant, who wished to withhold his name, said Confer has been slowly declining over the past two or three years. He blamed the system's decay on the prevalence of individual class-related and social e-mail groups and personal Web pages that have flooded life on campus. But Parnes said an increasing cyper- space-literate campus could be encour- aging for the future of Confer. "The real issue is that there are so many more options available;' Parnes said. "People are doing a lot more on- line interaction." Political science Prof. Raymond Tanter is one professor who has taken on-line conferencing to new heights. Students race to Tanter's class because there are only 50 monitors for 55 students, and pens and pencils are outlawed in class. Though Tanter uses Web conferenc- ing services rather than Confer pro- grams as part of his courses. he said Web conferencing offers all the advan- tages of conferencing with the capabil- ities of the Internet. "Students initially resist the Web, but then the thrill of discovery kicks in and they get exited about finding things," Tanter said. "They become enamored in the process of creating knowledge and then upon graduation they discover they can earn more money and then they become Web masters or Web mistresses." THINK YOU KNOW THE WHOLE STORY ABOUT MARIJUANA? THINK AGAIN. SEE TODA Y's FRIDA Y Focus. 1 20 years since the death of Tom Henehan .ALighter for international socialism Sunday, October 19,1 p.m. Michigan League + Vandenberg Room Tickets $5/$2.50 students & unemployed Tom Henehan, a leading member of the Workers League (the predecessor of the SEP), was assassinated in Brooklyn 20 years ago this month in a politically motivated killing. He was just 26 years old. A native of Kalamazoo, Michigan, he devoted his life to the struggle for equality and social justice. Join us in paying tribute to his life and the ideals for which he fought. For more information call: (248) 967-2924 or e-mail laborpub@sociaLequality.com + Visit ourWebsite at: http//www.socialequality.com+ I.........i..... . . . . . . LALEQND l What's happening in Ann Arbor this weekend FRIDAY U "Male Idols of the Japanese Cinema," Movie screening, spon- sored by The Center for Japanese Studies, Natural Science Auditorium, 7 p.m. Q "Scott Turner Lecture Series: Rapid Climate Chances and their Significance," Lecture, sponsored by The Department of Geological SATURDAY Q "HIV/AIDS Testing," sponsored by The The HIV/AIDS Resource Center, HARC Offices, 3075 Clark Rd., Suite 203, Yspilanti, 10 a.m.- 2 p.m. U "Just Don't Do It Protest Against Nike," Rally, sponsored by Solidarity, Diag, 10 a.m. G "Weekly Rummage Sale," sponsored Berkshire, 2-5 p.m. Q "Seekers Meeting," sponsored by The Ann Arbor Society of Friends, Meetinghouse, 1420 Hill St., 7-9 p.m. 0"Sunday Worship," sponsored by Laymen's Evangelical Fellowship, Ann Arbor YMCA, Zonta Room, 10 a.m. J "Tom Henehan (1951-1977): A Fighter for International SniiisIm -' eflfnr~fl hy r m